HYSSOP. 



(Common Hys^o^.} 

 LABIATE. Ifyssopus Offictnalis. 



BUNCH of the common hyssop, tied to a small stick and 

 dipped in the water of purification, was used for cen 

 turies in the ceremonial of the early Christian Church, 

 for the purpose of sprinkling places and persons to be 

 purified; and in consequence of this early practice the 

 brush used by priests in Roman Catholic churches is still in 

 many places called the hyssop. The plant was early considered 

 medicinal, and hence held an important place in the catalogues 

 of medicinal plants : it was used as a remedy for coughs and 

 for affections of the throat and chest. It has been very plau 

 sibly suggested that the hyssop upon which the sponge dipped 

 in vinegar was put, at the crucifixion, was that used for purifying 

 the people before the Sabbath came on, and that the same hyssop, 

 attached to a reed, (which was probably a general name for 

 the cedar stick to which the bunch might have been fastened,) 

 had already been used in purifying the people for the coming 

 Sabbath. For the hyssop, scarlet, (perhaps the scarlet thread,) 

 and the cedar were conjoined in that purification for sin which 

 appertained to the temple service, as seen in Num. xix. G ; and 

 the hyssop w r as used in sprinkling every thing, even the tent 



and vessels of the unclean. There w^as a solemn significance 



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